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WHAT IS THE PASTORAL COUNCIL Archbishop Diarmuid Martin mandated the establishment of Parish Pastoral Councils in all 200 Parishes of the Diocese. They are due to be evaluated in Autumn 2007. The purpose of the Council is to facilitate Parishioners and Priests to work together in the care of the Parish. The Council reflects, makes recommendations and assists in the Spiritual and Pastoral Development of the Parish. WHO ARE THE MEMEBRS? The members were drawn from the Parish through an open and transparent process. The process was facilitated by Ms Ellie McKeown, who is a Diocesan Pastoral Worker. The Council selects its own Chairperson and Secretary. The Parish Priest is the President of the Council. The names of the members are published on the Notice Board of the Church entrance. HOW CAN THE COUNCIL BE CONTACTED? Chairperson: Dermot O'Rourke Tel: (+353 86) 8286904
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Vice-Chairprson: Pat Quinn Tel: (+353 86) 8252453
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Acting Secretary: Aidan Davis
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Written submissions can be left with the Parish Clergy at the Parish Office. Esker Dodsboro Adamstown Parish Pastoral Council The Pastoral Council is a recognised leadership structure that is mandated by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin and confirmed by Canon Law. Parish Mission Statement
The aim of St. Patrick’s Parish is to create an environment in which the Spirit of the Lord lives, enabling all the members of the parish to grow in the love of God and one another and to respect the gifts and talents of each other-
Clann Dé le chéile [God’s Family gathered together] The Council seeks to facilitate and enable the work of each member of the community and of the work of Parish Groups for the sake of the parish. In that sense we are not another committee that sets out to tell everyone else what to do and how to do it. Rather we are there to listen to what you identify as the needs of the Parish, to reflect on them, to try and chart the best way forward to meet those needs and to facilitate in whatever way we can other people and other groups in fulfilling them. We welcome any comments or questions you may have on any aspects of the Council’s work at any time. Esker Dodsboro Adamstown Pastoral Council:
o held its first meeting in May 2005 and meets on the second Thursday of each month, except July and August.
o will endeavour to build a vibrant parish community that includes all parishioners.
o provides a structure and opportunity for priests and people to share responsibility for the mission of the parish.
o is about priests and people working together, sharing their wisdom and listening carefully to the needs of the parishioners so that our parish is one where the gifts and talents of all combine to enable us grow in the love of God
o seeks to work with all parish groups and parishioners to further the development and growth of our parish community.
o will act as a facilitator and co-ordinator of all the vibrant elements of our parish life. We will help to identify priority areas of work and invite and facilitate other groups and people in addressing those areas. The New Parish Pastoral Council met for the first time on Thursday 9th October. The meeting was very fruitful and productive.
The current membership of the Council is as follows:
Fr. John Hassett President
Dermot O'Rourke Chair
Pat Quinn Vice-Chair
Aidan Davis Acting Secretary Fr. Denis Carroll
Sr. Rosemarie Madden
Sr. Mary Ward
Breda Hand
Joseph George
Karen McGarrell
Michael O'Grady
Karrie Hughes
Ann Wafer
Michael Walsh
Main activities to date of the Pastoral Council:
1. Drafting and approval of Parish Mission Statement – May 2005
2. Leaflet drop to estates in Parish with basic information on parish services – ongoing.
3. Co-ordination of pastoral care for new residents of Adamstown – ongoing.
4. Regular communication with parishioners on role and work of the Pastoral Council – ongoing.
5. Submission to Archbishop on the Ferns Report (January 2006).
6. Preparation of Child Protection Policy (Ongoing)
7. Mass for the Sick, including Sacrament of the Sick (May 2006; May 2007)
8. Meeting with Parish Groups to discuss together how we can best enable all parishioners to help the parish to grow and develop – ongoing from October – May 2006.
9. Pastoral Council training programme – November 2005 – February 2006
10. Advent ceremony in co-operation with other Lucan Pastoral Councils – December 2005 & 2006. Esker/Dodsboro Parish Pastoral Council
Progress Report June 2007 1. Good morning / evening. I would like to thank Fr. XXX for allowing me to address you at this mass.
2. It is now just under a year since we last spoke to you about the Parish Pastoral Council’s work, and a lot has happened in that time. In particular, we have focused on the issue of child protection, as well as pastoral development in Adamstown, meeting with other parish groups and youth endeavour.
3. For any new parishoners here today, the Parish Pastoral Council of Esker, Dodsboro and Adamstown is a structure mandated in Canon Law. Its current members were nominated in an open process of reflection and discussion in January 2005. All full-time members of the Parish staff are ex-officio members, which includes the parish priest as President. There are a further 9 lay members, including our Chair, Maria Murphy and Vice-Chair, Jacinta Mitchell, with a total membership of 13.
4. All our work continues to be guided and underpinned by the Mission Statement which is:
5. Read the Mission Statement: Mission Statement as approved June 9th 2005
The aim of St. Patrick’s Parish is to create an environment
in which the Spirit of the Lord lives, enabling all the members of the parish
to grow in the love of God and one another
and to respect the gifts and talents of each one –
Clann Dé le chéile [God’s Family gathered together]. There has been much talk of the importance of civic life in our community in recent times, and rightly so. In seeking to faciltate others in making our mission statement a living reality, we have a rich opportunity to show how central parish life is to a sense of community, where we all enable each other’s talents and gifts to flourish for the sake of our parish community. 6. Since we spoke to you last November our main areas of activity have covered the following:
a. Child Protection
b. Pastoral Development in Adamstown
c. Meeting with other parish groups Child Protection
• When we spoke to you last year, we had made a submission to the Archbishop on the Ferns Report.
• Over the last 12 months, the following has been done:
o 3 parishoners agreed to take part in a diocesan training on the development of a Child Protection policy: Joe Maher, Ann Jones and Theresa Tornsey.
o At the request of the Pastoral Council, they drafted a Child Protection Policy which the Council considered at its March meeting.
o The Council adopted the policy with a number of amendments, and also appointed Joe Maher to the position of Child Protection representative. Ann and Theresa will co-operate with Joe as members of the Child Protection Team. They will speak with you in due course in more detail on the policy itself and where the parish goes from here.
o But the important things to note here are:
We as a parish have a child protection policy.
We have appointed a Child Protection Representative and a Child Protection Team who will look after this crucial area of our parish work. Meeting with other parish groups:
o The Council met with all those involved with the baskets, envelopes and money collection on behalf of the parish, and is in the process of meeting with those adults involved in music for the liturgy.
o Between now and the end of the year, the Council intends to meet with all groups who are involved in various aspects of parish life, and to hold an Open Day highlighting their work.
o The aims of these meetings are:
To thank these groups for all that they do on behalf of the parish.
To explore the ways in which the Pastoral Council can help them in that work.
To enhance all our efforts in making our mission statement a vibrant, living reality. Pastoral Development in Adamstown
o As you are aware, Fr. John Hassett was apppointed to our parish team last year with special responsibility for Adamstown.
o A summary of the key points here are:
The Archdiocese was awarded patronage of one of the new primary schools in Adamstown.
A series of meetings are being held for the new residents of Adamstown to welcome them to the parish and to facilitate them in finding key information points. Meetings have already taken place in April and May.
The provision of spiritual space in a variety of forms is proceeding apace, including both the Community Centre and Civic Commercial Centre.
It is hoped that Fr. John will be resident himself in Adamstown by the end of this year. Those are the most substantive areas of the Council’s work in the last 12 months, in terms of the amount of time and effort we have given to them. I will briefly go through the other activities that the Council is involved in on an ongoing basis: 1. Distribution of a Welcome Leaflet to newly built estates
• The leaflet contained key information and contacts that would be of interest to parishioners, as well as the Parish Mission Statement on the back.
• A special prayer of the faithful at masses followed up each leaflet drop on the following weekend welcoming any residents from those estates who had come to mass.
2. Service for the elderly and sick
We organised a service for the elderly and sick on Saturday June 9th.
3. Youth endeavour The Parish is sponsoring 3 young people to go to World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. Brónach has already spoken to you about this project. We look forward to your support for all the fundraising efforts which take place over the coming months. I think that it is fair to say that we have accomplished quite an amount in a relatively short space of time, just over a year. There is undoubtedly much more to be done. But we pray for your support and co-operation as we endeavour to do that. We on the Pastoral Council particularly value the importance of listening, reflection, consensus and action – listening to one another and to you, the parishioners, reflecting on what we have heard, discussing it, agreeing on the way forward, and acting together on that consensus. We look forward to the journey ahead with you.
If you have any queries about what I have just gone through, our names and faces are on display in the porch. Further information is also available on the parish website – www.stpatrickslucan.ie – and look under Parish Groups. Thank you for listening.
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